INDIGENOUS PROTECTED AREAS ARE SAVING KEY AUSTRALIAN SPECIES FROM EXTINCTION

First Peoples have, and always will have a commitment to caring for Country. By calling on our political leaders to Choose Nature, we can continue to have the resources needed to expand that care into the future.

A Nature Positive future means ending nature decline by 2030, and forging pathways towards restoration. This means thriving ecosystems, a stable climate, and a healthy planet for future generations. 25 percent of land in Australia (192 million hectares) is under some form of Indigenous management, so delivering on policies that support Indigenous-led, co-designed and supported land management is a key part of that journey forward.

WWF-Australia is reflecting on an important strategy in moving towards a Nature Positive future – the vital role of Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs).

Map of Australia showing the location of Indigenous Protected Areas, existing registered Native Title claims, and viable koala habitat. For thousands of years Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have cared for Country and culture through deep knowledge and strong land and sea management practices. This commitment and care continues today  alongside  successful claims of Native Title. © 2022 WWF-Australia (Map data courtesy of National Native Title Tribunal, Commonwealth of Australia, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Commonwealth of Australia , Geoscience Australia, Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database - CAPAD, Commonwealth of Australia and Australian Land Tenure).

So what is an Indigenous Protected Area? Here we explain, and reveal why supporting the expansion of IPAs should be central to caring for Country, as Traditional Owners have done for generations.

The role of Traditional Knowledge in protecting biodiversity

Freshwater cascades over polished granite boulders at Murray Falls, in the heart of Girramay National Park. This cool haven in Far North Queensland is steeped in cultural significance, and rich in natural beauty and native species. 

Djiru woman Whitney Rassip stands on a rock near one of the crystal-clear pools and savours the view deep into the tree-filled valley below.

The team of First Nations rangers and Elders she supports as CEO of the Girringun Region Indigenous Protected Areas are rightly proud of this place and all they have done to safeguard it.

“Our knowledge of Country defines who we are and where we come from,” Whitney says. “The birds, animals and plants all have a part to play in our knowledge systems … and we have a cultural obligation to protect all living things within nature.”

Thanks to the Girringun Region Indigenous Protected Areas – a breathtaking landscape spanning 1.2 million hectares – the region’s Traditional Owners are empowered to do just that. From the rainforests of the Wet Tropics to the magnificent Great Barrier Reef, the Bandjin, Djiru, Girramay, Gulngay, Gugu Badhun, Jirrbal, Nywaigi, Warrgamay and Warrungnu peoples are ensuring that their ancient knowledge and cultural values inform the management of a diverse estate.

WWF-Australia has worked alongside the Girringun rangers on various conservation projects over the past decade. 

We’ve witnessed the Elders’ delight at teaching young future Traditional Owners about healing Country; we’ve seen landscapes and species rebound following the re-introduction of traditional burning; and we’ve taken part in turtle and dugong surveys that directly support modern science, and so much more. 

On IPAs around Australia, First Nations ranger groups are playing a similar role in addressing threats to our environment – by limiting the impacts of feral animals and invasive weeds, controlling wildfire and helping to recover native animals. 

“Country needs First Nations people and First Nations people need Country,” Whitney says. “That is a solution for us all to move forward.”

WWF-Australia believes the Federal Government must expand the IPA network nationally, and boost investment in ranger programs. It’s absolutely vital to us meeting the global goal of protecting at least 30% of our land and 30% of our seas by 2030 at home and globally. Currently, just over 22% of Australia’s land is protected, and although 37% of our oceans are protected, only 25% is protected from extractive activities such as commercial fishing. Protecting 30% of Australia’s land can be achieved by identifying strategic and ecologically representative areas to establish new Indigenous Protected Areas. 

Choosing Nature means investing just 1% of Australia’s budget to repairing and protecting wildlife and their habitats.

Call on your political leaders to Choose Nature.

What is an Indigenous Protected Area?

An Indigenous Protected Area, or IPA, is an area of land or sea cared for by Traditional Owners, who enter into a voluntary agreement with the Federal Government to manage the area for biodiversity conservation. 

They commonly do this through skilled teams of local rangers, who practice traditional ecological knowledge and land management in ways that are both sustainable and economical.

By creating jobs and delivering education and training, IPAs change more than landscapes. As demonstrated by more than 2,600 Indigenous rangers in large and small communities, IPAs provide financial stability and rewarding career paths.

But the return on investment is even greater still. According to a 2024 IPA Program Evaluation Report, IPAs enhance the comprehensiveness, adequacy and representativeness of Australia’s National Reserve System and contribute to achieving Australia’s international obligations for biodiversity conservation by:

• Contributing to conservation outcomes in over half of Australia’s 89 terrestrial bioregions and a quarter of Australia’s 419 terrestrial subbioregions
• Providing various amounts of habitat representation for 66% of Australia’s threatened species and 100% of Australia’s listed threatened ecological communities
• Providing a globally significant connected corridor of protected habitat in central Australia, enhancing resilience and improving the connectivity of the National Reserve System overall.

The program evaluation report has further validated prior research on Indigenous Protected Areas, including the 2016 Social Ventures Australia report confirming the role of IPAs in strengthening local communities, achieving large-scale conservation outcomes, and catalysing the development of a First Peoples’ land and sea-based economy. The consensus on their efficacy has been publicly acknowledged for quite some time, so the latest report merely serves to consolidate existing data supporting that consensus.

Despite this, the report also found that while IPAs were found to generally address all components of management effectiveness for conservation, there is ongoing inadequate funding and support for many IPAs.

Why we need more IPAs

Australia now has almost 87 IPAs, covering more than 90 million hectares of land and 6 million hectares of sea country. They have become vital to tackling pressing environmental threats.

In the Kimberley, four of the 10 mammals most needing protection survive in IPAs. Through research and monitoring, fire management, feral animal control and fencing, the Kimberley Ranger Network is helping to protect the golden bandicoot, brush-tailed rabbit-rat, black-footed rock-wallaby and greater bilby, which lives almost exclusively on Indigenous owned or managed land.

But it’s just a start.

The bulk of IPAs in Australia are in more arid, less populated regions. As the animation below shows, if we are serious about protecting iconic threatened species including the koala, then we need IPAs in more populated areas of higher natural value, too. 

Whitney Rassip appreciates their power to keep Country and culture healthy and strong. “But we need to do more,” she says. “We need to expand the IPA network nationally.

“Aboriginal knowledge of Country and how it should be managed offers a solution to the climate crisis. IPAs don’t just benefit Aboriginal people; they benefit all Australians.”

Nature is so interconnected to everything that makes life the sacred journey that it has been for millennia. It is part of who we are and matters to us all. We must protect it for tomorrow.

This year is critical for our environment. 

Please, send a message to your political leaders to Choose Nature and secure a thriving future for all.